Jamshedpur Workers' College in Mango, Jamshedpur, which is one of the constituent colleges of Kolhan University but not included among the top-bracket institutions offering higher education in Jharkhand, has gone ahead to take an important student-friendly step so far seen in mostly elite MBA or tech campuses.

Since the past one month, the college, which has around 7,000 students across BBA, MBA, BCA and general streams, including the specialised BSc (IT), has activated its dormant placement cell to try and invite well-known head-hunters to campus.

It's been a promising start as eight of its MBA students have registered with insurance company HDFC Life and will face job interviews. The college is also in talks with another well-known company, ICICI Prudential, to come to campus and test the mettle of its students.

"The placement cell of Jamshedpur Workers' College is doing a good job since the past one month. Though we haven't received any support from the university in this regard, we are trying our best to tie up with companies from various sectors so that our students land up with jobs when they leave the college," said college faculty member Razique Anwar.

Besides inviting recruiters, the college is also trying to give exposure to students through seminars and workshops. For students of BSc (IT) and BCA, the college had organised a seminar by HCL Technologies last week. On Tuesday, the college held a placement counselling session to tell students about the kinds of job profiles needed in today's job market, the ways to groom themselves for it and challenges they would face in their careers.

Faculty member Anwar stressed their need. "Students enrol in professional courses keeping in mind both job availability as well as their own capability. So specific seminars to boost their capabilities are always useful," he said.

He added that though the college did not ensure placements yet, it checked out opportunities available across various sectors and counselled students accordingly for the jobs.

For students, the move has come as a pleasant surprise because colleges under Kolhan University are known to have dysfunctional or non-existent placement cells.

"Placement hardly means anything in most college campuses of this region. Most students come for degrees but also fear that their education is meaningless when there is so much unemployment. That's why we are happy that our college is at least trying to do something good in the field of campus placement. Hope this encourages other colleges of Kolhan University to do the same," said Md Sarfaraz, a second-year Jamshedpur Workers' College student.

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